Robert Chase
Sometimes, I forget why I hired you - House, after Chase figures out House is the one who really sabotaged Foreman's job interview in The Jerk I wouldn't have hired him if he wasn't smart - House, after Chase outhinks him in No Reason Chase's father made a phone call - House explaining to Cameron why he hired Chase in Pilot Dr. Robert Chase was the diagnostic team's cardiologist and intensive care specialist during the first three seasons. He has been on the diagnostic team with House longer than either of other two members at the time. He returns in the fourth season as a member of Princeton-Plainsboro's surgical staff. He is portrayed by Australian actor Jesse Spencer. Biography In the episode "Cursed," House speculated that his father's accent is "Czech with about 30 years Aussie", which the father confirms (Jesse Spencer is Australian himself). Chase has also had a rough relationship with his late father, Rowan, a famous doctor in his own right. Chase talks to House about trying to mend the gap with his father many times, but finding his father simply didn't care. It is also in this episode that House describes Chase as a "26-year-old male," although this may have been an exaggeration given the usual age of specialist doctors. In the episode Autopsy he reveals his age as thirty, although he may have been exaggerating due to the circumstances. Rowan Chase is revealed to have left the family when Robert was a teenager, which gave his son no other option but to care alone for his alcoholic mother until her death, at least five years later which was approximately ten years before "Damned If You Do". In "Cursed," Rowan visits the hospital claiming he is in town for a conference, but close observation of his behavior allows House to deduce that he's not assisting to said conference and in reality, Rowan is dying from terminal lung cancer. Rowan was at the hospital to visit Dr. James Wilson, head of Oncology at Princeton-Plainsboro. Initially, Robert is intensely frustrated with his father's presence, but offers to buy his father a drink at the end of the episode. Rowan declines because he says he does not have time before he leaves again, and leaves without ever revealing to Robert his condition. In the Season Two episode "The Mistake," viewers learn that Chase's father died about two months after the visit in "Cursed." Later viewers found out that Chase's father cut him off his will before dying, leaving him no money at all. In "Damned If You Do", Chase reveals to a patient that he attended a seminary, quoting 1 Peter 1:7. This aspect of his life was shown again in the episode "Forever," when he said a prayer for the soul of a baby who died under his care. It has also been alluded to that he has been into BDSM in the past, although he says that his familiarity with the scene was only because he was dating a banker who liked to be burned. (cf. "Love Hurts") Chase's attraction to Cameron has been featured early in the series when he asks her on a date, only to be rejected.4 In the season two episode "Hunting," Chase has a one-night stand with Cameron while she is high on methamphetamines. Cameron begins a "friends with benefits" relationship with Chase in season 3 during "Top Secret." Chase begins to fall for Cameron, but she does not return his feelings. A moment in "Fetal Position" clarifies Chase's feelings for Cameron when a patient remarks that she had "never seen him glow" like he does in a picture taken while gazing at a picture of her (Cameron). However, when he informed her that he wanted to take their relationship forward, she ended it. Despite Cameron's refusal to reconcile, Chase asks her out every Tuesday, saying "It's Tuesday...I like you." At the end of Season 3, Chase is promptly fired by House following an outburst, but the official reason is that he has been around the longest and has learned all he can from House. Later, Cameron realizes her feelings for Chase and the two begin a relationship. Chase then picks up a job in the surgical team at Princeton-Plainsboro instead. Chase was the only fellow who had completed two medical specialities - cardiology and intensive care. He is currently working towards being board certified as a surgeon. Chase is also known as the " Shiny Haired Wombat", For the first three seasons. However, in the current season, Robert Chase has lost his 'shiny' and ' overly cute' complexion, trading his pristine blond hair for dishwater blond, and has 'five o'clock shadow'. It is almost as if leaving House's team has matured him. No longer as innocent, it seems. Relationship with House It is unclear why House hired Chase. House claims that he did it after receiving a call from Chase's father, but this is unlikely. In any case, House has never been clear, paralleling a similar mystery about why Cuddy hired House. Chase is often considered the weak link of the team, but in fact he came up with more diagnoses/good ideas than Cameron or Foreman for each of the first three seasons. *In Sports Medicine, the team determined the underlying illness was cadmium poisoning, but only Chase figured out the source; marijuana is often grown in cadmium-contaminated soil and the patient had been smoking it despite his denials. *In Airborne, it was Chase who eventually tracked down the fact the woman's house was filled with toxic gas that had traveled through a connecting pipe from a house being treated for insect infestation. *In Finding Judas, Chase figures out the patient is suffering from a rare genetic disease just before surgery is performed based on House's recommendation that the patient has flesh-eating bacteria. at the bar.]] Chase also seems to have House's ability to think outside the box, and comes up with good treatment and testing ideas, starting with the idea of confirming tapeworm by doing a simple x-ray in Pilot to coming up with the idea of doing exploratory surgery on a fetus in Fetal Position. He also comes up with a procedure to save the patients eye in Detox, and it was his idea to do a transcranial ultrasound to look for bleeding in the episode Kids. It should also be pointed out that before joining House's team, Chase already had completed a double specialty in intensive care and cardiology. It is generally unclear what House thinks of Chase. House goes from belittling his opinion, to letting Chase hug him, to calling him an idiot, to going far out of his way to let Chase keep his job in the episode The Mistake He also begins to tell Chase his father is dying in Cursed before Chase, referring to House's earlier statement about Chase hating his father, cuts him off and says that he loves his father but finds it easier not to expect anything from someone who clearly doesn't care for him. Whatever House's opinion of Chase, it has always been clear that Chase worships and fears House. Chase usually follows House's instructions, and takes any insults House dishes out without retaliating. Chase rarely disagrees with anything House has to say, pointing out to Foreman that no matter how many times he(Foreman) disagrees with House, not only is House right, but he manages to convince Cameron and Foreman of his point of view. However, by the third season, it was clear that Chase was tired of waiting for House's praise or appreciation. Chase does seem to genuinely like him though, and hugs him when he thinks House is dying of a brain tumor in Half-Wit Dr. Wilson Chase: You know, Beckett was going to call his play "Waiting for House's Approval", but he thought the title was too grim (from Finding Judas after House hits Chase for coming up with the right diagnosis) In Human Error, House fires Chase after Chase has an outburst over House's feeble attempts to try to keep Foreman from leaving, House giving the excuse that Chase has been there the longest and either can't learn any more from him or he hasn't learned anything at all. This was possibly due to Wilson telling House he was afraid of change, possibly due to Chase's outburst, or possibly due to Chase's growing diagnostic skills throughout season three. In The Right Stuff, while House and his many applicants are trying to come up with a diagnosis, Chase hits upon the right one. Other Characteristics Chase has had an on-again, off-again sexual relationship with Dr. Cameron. The first incident occurred when Cameron experimented with Methamphetamine and called Chase over to her house. However, later on in the third season Cameron intimated she would be interested in a "friends with benefits" arrangement which, against Chase's weakening protests quickly evolved into having sex in dangerous places, such as a patient's bedroom and several places on the hospital premises. Chase began to develop real feelings for Cameron, but Cameron did not return the feelings and called the relationship off. In Human Error, she seeks Chase out and they are last seen together at Chase's apartment. In the fourth, however, they have a much more open relationship, often staying the night with each other. In the fifth season episode "Saviors," Chase breaks off his relationship with Cameron because she has been distant; the reason for this was because she found an engagement ring in his sock drawer and she did not want him to propose because of Kutner's recent suicide. In the end, however, she tells Chase that "doesn't care how it happens, only that it does." He proposes to her, and she accepts. The next episode, Under My Skin, has him apparently calling off the engagement--or at least indefinitely postponing their marriage--after Chase decides he is unwilling to marry Cameron until she has no doubts about their relationship. None of the major characters in the series have children, but Chase is clearly the character who is the most comfortable with them. He goes out of his way to put young patients at ease and to talk to them at their level. de:Robert Chase pl:Robert Chase Chase, Robert